Parking system for motor vehicles

ABSTRACT

In order to enable particularly rapid conveyance of motor vehicles in a parking system for motor vehicles even when it is of complicated construction wherein the parking system comprises a pallet changing mechanism in which two guide means for pallets are arranged one above the other and said pallets are displaceable horizontally into said guide means, and also comprises a lifting device which can raise a pallet from the lower guide means into the upper guide means and conversely lower a pallet from the upper guide means into the lower guide means, it is proposed that the pallet changing mechanism be movable by means of a motorised drive between an entry or an exit position in which a pallet in the upper guide means is respectively aligned with the entrance or exit of the parking system on the one hand and between a pallet transfer station in which both guide means that are arranged one above the other of the pallet changing mechanism are aligned with guide means of a rack conveyor or a parking rack on the other, and in that there be provided a control unit which coordinates the movement of the pallet changing mechanism between the entry or exit position and the pallet transfer station and the activation of the lifting device in such a manner that the raising/lowering movement of the pallets in the pallet changing mechanism occurs during the movement of the pallet changing mechanism between the entry or exit position and the pallet transfer station.

This application is a continuation of international application number PCT/EP2009/054290 filed on Apr. 9, 2009 and claims the benefit of German application no. 10 2008 029 075.0 filed on Jun. 10, 2008.

The present disclosure relates to the subject matter disclosed in international application PCT/EP2009/054290 of Apr. 9, 2009 and German application No. 10 2008 029 075.0 of Jun. 10, 2008, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety and for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a parking system for motor vehicles comprising a pallet changing mechanism in which two guide means for pallets are arranged one above the other and said pallets are displaceable horizontally into said guide means, and also comprising a lifting device which can raise a pallet from the lower guide means into the upper guide means and conversely lower a pallet from the upper guide means into the lower guide means.

A parking system of this kind is known from DE 20 2007 002 069 U1. In this parking system, motor vehicles on pallets are pushed into individual storage compartments of a rack by means of a rack conveyor and two guide means located one above the other, into which pallets can be displaced horizontally one above the other, are arranged in each storage compartment and in the rack conveyor. When transferring a pallet from the rack conveyor to a parking bay or vice versa, the upper pallet upon which a motor vehicle is located is always displaced into the aligned upper guide means on each occasion, whilst an empty pallet is simultaneously pushed into the likewise aligned lower guide means in the opposite direction so that a pallet is always present at each parking bay and in the rack conveyor, either a pallet occupied by a motor vehicle or an empty pallet.

At the entrance and at the exit of this known parking system, there is a respective pallet changing mechanism to which the rack conveyor is directly connectable. At the entrance, a pallet occupied by a motor vehicle is pushed onto the rack conveyor and an empty pallet is inserted into the pallet changer by the rack conveyor, namely, into its lower guide means. In the pallet changer, a lifting device now shifts the empty lower platform from the lower guide means into the upper guide means so that, after this process of shifting it into the upper guide means, an empty pallet is available onto which a motor vehicle can be driven.

The procedure at the exit is reversed, there, the pallet in the pallet changing mechanism which is now empty after the motor vehicle has departed is lowered from the upper guide means into the lower guide means by the lifting device.

In the known parking system, a respective rack conveyor which is stationed at the entrance and the exit directly adjoins the pallet changing mechanism. This, however, is not always possible for structural reasons, for example, if the entire parking system is located underground and it is intended that the entrance and the exit should be positioned aboveground.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to further develop a parking system of the above type in such a way that the transfer of the motor vehicles between an entrance or an exit on the one hand and the remainder of the parking system on the other can be effected easily and in particular quickly even in the case of complicated layouts.

In accordance with the invention, this object is achieved in the case of a parking system of the type described hereinabove in that the pallet changing mechanism is movable by means of a motorised drive between an entry or an exit position in which a pallet in the upper guide means is aligned on each occasion with the entrance or the exit of the parking system on the one hand and between a pallet transfer station in which both guide means of the pallet changing mechanism are aligned with guide means located one above the other of a rack conveyor or a parking rack on the other, and in that there is provided a control unit which coordinates the movement of the pallet changing mechanism between the entry or exit position and the pallet transfer station and the activation of the lifting device in such a manner that the raising/lowering movement of the pallets in the pallet changing mechanism occurs during the movement of the pallet changing mechanism between the entry or exit position and the pallet transfer station.

Thus, in contrast to the static pallet changing mechanism, the pallet changing mechanism is constructed so that it is movable and consequently can travel or be moved from the entry position or from the exit position into a pallet transfer station. In the entry position or in the exit position, a pallet in an upper guide means of the pallet changing mechanism is aligned with the entrance or the exit so that a motor vehicle can be driven onto this upper pallet or driven off it. The pallet changing mechanism then moves into a second position, namely, a pallet transfer station, in which the guide means of the pallet changing mechanism are aligned with the guide means of a rack conveyor or with the guide means in the parking bays of a rack so that pallets can be swapped between the pallet changing mechanism and this rack conveyor or the parking rack. The shifting of the pallet from the lower guide means into the upper guide means or from the upper guide means into the lower guide means now takes place in the pallet changing mechanism during this movement of the pallet changing mechanism between the entry or exit position on the one hand and the pallet transfer station on the other so that no additional time is needed for this shifting process. The simultaneous activation of the drives for the movement of the pallet changing mechanism itself and for the activation of the lifting device on the other hand ensures that, upon reaching the entrance or upon reaching the pallet transfer station, the pallet changing mechanism has placed the pallet into those guide means in which they are respectively needed at the entrance, at the exit or at the pallet transfer station for the transfer of the pallets and for the loading and unloading of the pallets. An additional amount of time for the process of changing the pallets in the pallet changing mechanism is thereby avoided since this change takes place during the movement of the pallet changing mechanism. Hereby, it is expedient if the process of raising or lowering the pallet in the pallet changing mechanism can be fully completed during the transit of the pallet changing mechanism. In principle however, it would also be possible to perform just part of the process of lowering or raising the pallets in the pallet changing mechanism during the movement of the pallet changing mechanism between the entry or exit position and the pallet transfer station and then to partly effect this process of swapping the pallet between the guide means located one above the other whilst the pallet changing mechanism is stationary. Above all however, the essential thing is that the time required for displacing the pallet changing mechanism between the pallet transfer station and the entry or exit position be used for the process of swapping the pallets between the two guide means.

It is expedient, if the control unit coordinates the movement of the pallet changing mechanism between the entry or exit position and the pallet transfer station and the activation of the lifting device in such a manner that the pallets of the pallet changing mechanism are raised from the lower guide means into the upper guide means during the movement of the pallet changing mechanism from the pallet transfer station to the entry position and lowered into the lower guide means during the movement of the pallet changing mechanism from the exit position to the pallet transfer station. In an arrangement of this type, it is always empty pallets which are swapped between the upper and the lower guide means in the pallet changing mechanism.

In principle, the pallet changing mechanism could be displaceable horizontally between the entry or exit position on the one hand and the pallet transfer position on the other or it could also be movable in some other way, but it is particularly advantageous thereby if the pallet changing mechanism is movable upwardly or downwardly in the vertical direction, thus, in other words, if the pallet changing mechanism is placed on a lift.

The following description of preferred embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the drawing serves to provide a more detailed explanation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: is a schematic side view of a parking system comprising static parking bays, a rack conveyor which can approach these parking bays and a lift comprising a pallet changing mechanism which can be connected alternately to a point of entry or an exit and to the rack conveyor;

FIG. 2: is a schematic side view of the pallet changing mechanism incorporating two guide means located one above the other and a parking pallet in the upper guide means;

FIG. 3: is a view similar to FIG. 2 when lowering the pallet from the upper guide means onto the lower guide means;

FIG. 4: is a schematic illustration of the exit from the parking system with the pallet changing mechanism in an upper end position;

FIG. 5: is a view similar to FIG. 4 depicting a position of the pallet changing mechanism that is lowered with respect to the exit;

FIG. 6: is a view similar to FIG. 4 depicting the position of the pallet changing mechanism when it has been lowered to a pallet transfer station;

FIG. 7: is a view similar to FIG. 6 depicting a lowered pallet changing mechanism which is associated with an entrance;

FIG. 8: is a view similar to FIG. 7 depicting a position of the pallet changing mechanism which is raised with respect to the pallet transfer station and

FIG. 9: is a view similar to FIG. 8 depicting the pallet changing mechanism in the upper position where it is aligned with the entrance.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention is discussed hereinafter using the example of a parking system 1 which is arranged below an approach road level 2 in the interior 3 of a structure 4. An entrance 5 is located at the approach road level 2 and there is an exit 6 at another location, and, within this region, there is provided at the level of the approach road 2 an opening 7 which leads into the interior 3 and is preferably covered by its own structure 8, whereby this structure 8 may be an entry station or an exit station and it has a lateral gate opening 9 through which a motor vehicle 28 can drive into the structure 8 or out of the structure 8.

A plurality of static parking bays 10 are arranged in shelf-like manner one above the other in the interior 3, a central space 11 in which a rack conveyor 12 is displaceable being left between these parking bays.

Each parking bay 10 has two horizontal guide means 13, 14 which are located one above the other, and pallets 15 upon which motor vehicles can be accommodated can be pushed into said guide means.

The same applies to the rack conveyor 12 which can be moved in the central space in both the vertical and horizontal directions in such a way that the two guide means 13, 14 thereof which are located one above the other are aligned with corresponding guide means 13, 14 of a parking bay so that it is possible to exchange a pallet 15 in the upper guide means and also in the lower guide means.

In the drawing, the static parking bays are each denoted by just the schematically illustrated upper and lower guide means 13 and 14, and the rack conveyor 12 merely by its upper guide means 13 and its lower guide means 14. These guide means 13, 14 of the rack conveyor 12 are actually arranged on a lift which thus enables the guide means 13, 14 of the rack conveyor 12 to be lifted and lowered, and moreover, the lift can also be made to travel in the horizontal direction in the central space 11 so that it can also reach parking bays 10 that are located in front of the plane of the drawing of FIG. 1 and behind the plane of the drawing of FIG. 1.

The parking bays 10 occupy substantially the entire area on both sides of the central space 11, although an area having no static parking bays 10 therein is kept free in the region below an entrance 5 and below an exit 6. Instead, a pallet changing mechanism 16 is arranged in this region, said pallet changing mechanism being part of a lift by means of which the pallet changing mechanism 16 is lowerable from an upper position in which it is substantially in alignment with the approach road level 2, down to a pallet transfer station 29 in which it is substantially in alignment with the guide means 13, 14 of the rack conveyor 12 if, for its part, this rack conveyor 12 is in an upper position.

The raising/lowering movement of the pallet changing mechanism 16 is effected by means of a motorised drive 17 which is connected by a control line 18 to a control unit 19 that serves to activate it. The drive 17 is only indicated schematically in FIG. 1 as being part of the pallet changing mechanism 16, but in practice the drive could naturally also be arranged externally on the buildings 4 or 8 and not on the lift itself which carries the pallet changing mechanism 16.

Two guide means 20, 21 for a parking pallet 15 are arranged one above the other in the pallet changing mechanism 16, namely, these guide means are formed by a pair of parallel lower rails 22 and a pair of upper rails 23 that are arranged thereabove. The lower rails 22 are fixed in place on the pallet changing mechanism 16, whereas the upper rails 23 are held on a carrier 24 which is mounted such that it is pivotal outwardly about a lower pivotal point so that the upper rails 23 can be swung out laterally, as is illustrated in FIG. 3. Furthermore, a lifting device 25 is arranged in the pallet changing mechanism 16, said device acting on the lower surface of a pallet 15 which is mounted in displaceable manner in one of the rails 22 or 23. This lifting device 25 can raise and lower the pallet 15 and it may, for example, be a hydraulic lifting device comprising a plurality of pressure cylinders which act on a pallet 15 at different points in order to raise and lower the pallet uniformly and parallel to itself. It is thereby possible to raise the pallets upwardly from the lower rail 22 when the carriers 24 supporting the upper rails 23 have been swung out laterally since the area above the lower rails 22 is made clear in this way. The pallet 15 can be raised to an extent such that the carriers 24 supporting the upper rails 23 can be swung back underneath the pallet so that when the pallet is subsequently lowered it will be accommodated in the upper rails 23 where it is then mounted in displaceable manner. It is possible to change the location of the pallet 15 between the upper rails 23 and the lower rails 22 in this way. A pallet in the upper rails 23 with the carriers 24 swung inwardly is illustrated in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3 however, the carriers 24 are swung out, and the pallet 15 is being lowered into the lower rails 22 by the lifting device 25. This procedure is of course reversible.

This exchange of the pallets 15 between the rails 22, 23 that are located one above the other can be effected with the help of a motorised drive means 26 which activates the carriers 24 on the one hand and the lifting device 25 on the other, this drive means 26 only being illustrated schematically in FIG. 1. It is also connected by a control line 27 to the control unit 19 so that this control unit controls both the raising/lowering movement of the pallet changing mechanism 16 as a whole and also the process of changing the pallets 15 between the two rails 22 and 23.

In operation of the parking system 1, motor vehicles 28 are placed on the parking pallets 15 and these parking pallets are then transferred by the pallet changing mechanism 16 and the rack conveyor 12 to the individual parking bays 10 or are brought back from the parking bays in the reverse direction. In every case, the alignment between the pallet changing mechanism 16 and the rack conveyor 12 or between the rack conveyor 12 and a parking bay 10 is effected in such a way that the respective upper guide means are aligned with the upper guide means and the respective lower guide means with the lower guide means. In the course of the alignment process, the pallets are always shifted in the upper and in the lower guide means at the same time, but in opposite directions so that one pallet 15 always remains in each parking bay 10, in the rack conveyor 12 and in the pallet changing mechanism 16. Hereby, pallets occupied by a motor vehicle are always in the upper guide means.

In order for this system of pallet-changing to function continuously, the pallets 15 in the pallet changing mechanism 16 must be swapped between the two guide means 20, 21 on each occasion.

This is described by way of example for a pallet changing mechanism 16 shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 which is assigned to an exit 6.

In FIG. 4, the pallet changing mechanism 16 is illustrated in its raised position, the pallet 15 is located in the upper guide means 21 and is thus aligned with the approach road level 2 so that a motor vehicle 28 located on the pallet 15 can leave the exit.

If a motor vehicle that has been placed in a parking bay is to be transported to the exit, the control unit 19 is activated accordingly by the user, and this now moves the pallet changing mechanism 16 downwardly from the upper position illustrated in FIG. 4 into the lowered position in which the pallet changing mechanism 16 is located in a pallet transfer station 29 (FIG. 6). During the lowering movement of the pallet changing mechanism 16, the drive means 26 for the lifting device 25 and the carrier 24 is activated at the same time by the control unit 19 so that the pallet is lowered from the upper guide means 21 into the lower guide means 20. This is illustrated in FIG. 5 in the intermediate region between the upper position and the lower position of the pallet changing mechanism. As soon as the pallet changing mechanism 16 is located in the lower position, i.e. in the pallet transfer station 29, the pallet 15 has reached the lower guide means 20 so that, after the process of aligning the pallet changing mechanism 16 with the rack conveyor 12, a pallet 15 occupied by a motor vehicle 28 can be moved from the upper guide means 14 of the rack conveyor 12 onto the upper guide means 21 of the pallet changing mechanism 16, as is illustrated in FIG. 6. At the same time, the free pallet is shifted from the lower guide means 20 of the pallet changing mechanism 16 into the lower guide means 13 of the rack conveyor 12, whereafter the pallet changing mechanism 16 is moved back into the raised position of FIG. 4 in which the motor vehicle that had been parked on the pallet can be driven out through the exit.

Additional time for the process of swapping the pallets between the two guide means 20, 21 of the pallet changing mechanism 16 is not needed since the swap takes place during the lowering movement of the pallet changing mechanism 16 into the lower position.

The situation at an entrance 5 is illustrated in FIGS. 7 to 9. When the pallet changing mechanism 16 is in the lowered position there, i.e. when it is located in the pallet transfer station 29, a motor vehicle disposed on a pallet 15 in the upper guide means 21 can be shifted with the pallet 15 into the upper guide means 14 of the rack conveyor 12, and at the same time a free pallet is shifted from the lower guide means 13 of the rack conveyor 12 into the lower guide means 20 of the pallet changing mechanism 16.

Subsequently, the pallet changing mechanism 16 is raised by the control unit 19, and, at the same time, the change of the free pallet from the lower guide means 20 into the upper guide means 21 takes place. When the pallet changing mechanism 16 reaches the upper position, the free pallet has also been transferred into the upper guide means 21 of the pallet changing mechanism 16 and is now aligned with the approach road level 2 so that a motor vehicle 28 can drive onto the pallet (FIG. 9).

After lowering the pallet changing mechanism 16 into the pallet transfer station 29, the pallet occupied by the motor vehicle can be shifted from the upper guide means 21 of the pallet changing mechanism 16 into the upper guide means 14 of the rack conveyor 12 in the manner evident from FIG. 7, so that the rack conveyor 12 then transports the pallet occupied by the motor vehicle to a parking bay and places it in the bay in known manner.

Here too, the process of shifting the free pallet from the lower guide means 20 into the upper guide means 21 of the pallet changing mechanism 16 also occurs during the raising/lowering movement of the pallet changing mechanism 16 and consequently does not need any additional time.

In order to allow the process of swapping the pallets between the two guide means 20 and 21 of the pallet changing mechanism 16 to take place during the raising/lowering movement of the pallet changing mechanism 16, care must naturally be taken to ensure that there is sufficient space for the carriers 24 that are swung out during this swapping process, this being indicated by the walls 30 that have been set back laterally with respect to the pallet changing mechanism 16 in the illustrations of FIGS. 2 and 3. In practice, it may well be necessary to adopt appropriate precautionary measures of a structural nature for ensuring that the carriers 24 do not collide with other components when being swung out and during the simultaneous raising/lowering movement of the pallet changing mechanism 16. 

1. Parking system for motor vehicles comprising a pallet changing mechanism in which two guide means for pallets are arranged one above the other and said pallets are displaceable horizontally into said guide means, and also comprising a lifting device which can raise a pallet from the lower guide means into the upper guide means and conversely lower a pallet from the upper guide means into the lower guide means, wherein the pallet changing mechanism is movable by means of a motorised drive between an entry or an exit position in which a pallet in the upper guide means is aligned with the entrance or the exit of the parking system on the one hand and between a pallet transfer station in which both guide means of the pallet changing mechanism are aligned with the guide means that are arranged one above the other of a rack conveyor or a parking rack on the other, and in that there is provided a control unit which coordinates the movement of the pallet changing mechanism between the entry or exit position and the pallet transfer station and the activation of the lifting device in such a manner that the raising/lowering movement of the pallets in the pallet changing mechanism occurs during the movement of the pallet changing mechanism between the entry or exit position and the pallet transfer station.
 2. Parking system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the control unit coordinates the movement of the pallet changing mechanism between the entry or exit position and the pallet transfer station and the activation of the lifting device in such a manner that the pallets of the pallet changing mechanism are raised from the lower guide means into the upper guide means during the movement of the pallet changing mechanism from the pallet transfer station to the entry position, and are lowered from the upper guide means into the lower guide means during the movement of the pallet changing mechanism from the exit position to the pallet transfer station.
 3. Parking system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the pallet changing mechanism is movable upwardly and downwardly between the entry or exit position and the pallet transfer station in the vertical direction.
 4. Parking system in accordance with claim 2, wherein the pallet changing mechanism is movable upwardly and downwardly between the entry or exit position and the pallet transfer station in the vertical direction. 